Give Up Selfishness For Lent
Rev. Bill Freeman
March 28, 2021
www.BillFreeman.org
This would be his last week of life. It would start off so well. But end up so tragically. And he was so relatively young. Only 33 years old. 33? Ray Kroc didn’t come up with the idea of franchising McDonald’s until he was 50. 33? Charles Darwin didn’t publish his book about Evolution until he was 50. 33? Julia Child, the famous chef who specialized in French food, didn’t even eat French food until she was 36.
His life began humbly enough. He was born in a barn. Oh sure. People try to put the best spin on it and call it a manger. But let’s face it. It was a barn. Barn yard animals were probably there. A cow. A sheep. A donkey maybe.
What must he have thought when he took a look around on the day he was born? Holy cow! Is that a cow? Is that a sheep? Is that a donkey? Is this a barn?! Was I born in a barn?! How disgusting. And how embarrassing,
Was he teased about it as a child? If he left someone’s front door open, would they call after him? Hey, Buddy, shut the front door! What, were you born in a barn?! And he would have to say, perhaps sheepishly: Why yes, I was born in a barn. And then people probably laughed at him and said: “Yeah we know, ha, ha, ha. You were born in a barn. Ha!”
And he was born Jewish. How’d that work out? Was he picked on by non-Jews, just for being Jewish? When he went shopping, was he followed around by store security, just for being Jewish? Did the authorities stop him in the street sometimes, just for being Jewish?
Did his parents, his Mother Mary and his Father Joseph, sit him down one day to have, “The Talk”? If so, we can only imagine what they said.
“Son we have to talk with you.”
“About what?”
“Son, you’re Jewish.”
“Yeah, I know. I love being Jewish.”
“We know you do, Buddy. And that’s great. But not everyone likes us Jews. In fact, some people hate the Jews. We represent ‘the other’ to people. We’re different from them. We maybe look different from them. We worship different from them. And they hate us for it.”
“Mom and Dad, is that why kids pick on me at school, just for being Jewish? Is that why, when I go shopping, store security follows me around, just for being Jewish? And is that why the authorities stop me on the street sometimes, just for being Jewish?”
“Yes, yes, and yes. So you have to be careful Son. If you get stopped by the authorities, do whatever they tell you to do. If they say, ‘Show us your hands!’ Then show them your hands. If they say, ‘Kneel on the ground,’ then kneel on the ground. Don't ask them why they stopped you. That sometimes makes them mad and they might beat you up because of it. If you don’t do what they say, they could kill you. And then they’d probably drop a knife next to your body and say they had no other choice but to kill you, because you pulled a knife on them. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Thankfully he survived childhood. In fact, one incident during his childhood would indicate just what he might do when he moved into adulthood.
One day, when he was about 12, he wandered into the Jerusalem Temple and spoke with some rabbis. He asked them some questions and they asked him some questions. Since there’s no record of what they discussed, we can only guess.
“Tell us this, young fellow. Do you study the Scriptures?”
“Why yes I do, happily.”
“And what do you see there?”
“I see much poetry and wisdom.”
“What poetry do you see?”
“I don’t think you can get much more poetic than the opening words of the Scriptures. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.’”
“Very good, young fellow. What about wisdom, where do you see wisdom in the Scriptures?”
“That’s easy. In the wisdom of Solomon. He’s approached by two women who claim to both be the mother of the baby they brought. They want King Solomon to decide who is the real mother. Solomon says he can’t decide. So he says he’ll have the baby cut in half and he’ll give each woman half a baby. The one woman said that was fine with her. But the other woman said: No, don’t do that, give her the baby, just don’t harm the baby. Then Solomon declared that she was the baby’s mother, because she didn’t want any harm to come to the baby.”
“You have answered well, young fellow. We think when you grow up, you should become a rabbi.”
Well, that’s just what the young fellow did. He became a rabbi, an itinerant rabbi, or teacher, traveling from town to town, dispensing wisdom, and helping people. You would think dispensing wisdom and helping people wouldn’t get him in trouble. But it did. Especially with the religious extremists of his day, who cared more about the letter of the law than about the spirit of the law. They undoubtedly kept asking: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! Here are some examples.
The Scriptures say you’re not supposed to do anything on the Sabbath. But the young rabbi taught that it’s okay to help people on the Sabbath, and that’s just what he did, he helped people on the Sabbath. Well, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The Scriptures speak of revenge, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” But the young rabbi contradicted the Scriptures when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Again, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The Scriptures say an adulterer shall be put to death. But the young rabbi, when an adulterer was brought to him, refused to put her to death. Yet again, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
It wasn't just the religious extremists that were undoubtedly furious with the young rabbi. People who hated the government were undoubtedly furious with him as well. When the young rabbi was asked if people should pay their taxes to the king, in other words to the government, the young rabbi said: Yes, pay your taxes. Well, the anti-government extremists were undoubtedly furious with him as well, and probably asked: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
Then there were the business people, or the capitalist extremists, who liked making money anywhere they could, including by exchanging money and selling things in the temple. But then along came the young rabbi, who overturned the moneychangers tables in the temple and got a whip and whipped the capitalist extremists out of the temple. He said of them that they had turned God’s House of Prayer into a den of thieves. So the capitalist extremists also were undoubtedly furious with him as well, and probably asked: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The religious extremists, the anti-government extremists, and the capitalist extremists undoubtedly wanted to see the young rabbi put to death. And they would soon get their wish to have him killed.
Maybe you can imagine a similar fate befalling the young rabbi if he were alive in America today. What if he told people to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the sick? Would people who don’t like helping others say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood along the border with Mexico and told Americans to welcome the stranger? Would people who don’t want immigrants and refugees coming here say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood in front of the Pentagon and said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God? Would people who support war say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood in front of the Treasury Department and told people: Pay your taxes? Would anti-government and anti-tax extremists say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! And what if he went to the New York Stock Exchange, overturned the moneymakers tables and said: Blessed are you who are poor…But woe to you who are rich? Would rich people say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! Might all of those people he offended also want the young rabbi put to death?
Passover week. The young rabbi was going to triumphantly enter Jerusalem, where he was loved by the people. They undoubtedly liked his message of helping people on the Sabbath, of turning the other cheek, and of not killing an adulterous woman. Understanding that they probably got some good things from the government and probably didn't like their temple debased by business people, they undoubtedly liked the young rabbi telling people to support the government by paying their taxes, and oppose the money grubbing capitalist extremists.
So, during the Passover week the young rabbi, riding on the back of a donkey, entered Jerusalem, humbly but triumphantly. Along the road people took palm branches and threw them in front of the donkey to show respect for the young rabbi. And the people shouted: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Perhaps that was the last straw for all of the extremists. They undoubtedly wanted the government to arrest the young rabbi and put him to death. So, the young rabbi was arrested during Passover. He was brought before the king. The King didn't really see that what the young rabbi did was all that bad. The King undoubtedly thought the religious extremists were just mad at him. And maybe he thought the anti-government extremists and the capitalist extremists were just mad at him too. So the king asked the people: What do you want to happen to the young rabbi? Well the religious extremists and perhaps the anti-government extremists and the capitalist extremists got the people all riled up. And they got them to shout: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! No, wait a minute. They got them to shout: Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!
And that's what happened to him. He was crucified. Nailed to a cross and hung there to die. As he hung on the cross, the young rabbi shouted: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Had God forsaken the young rabbi? Spoiler alert: That answer to that question will come next Sunday, Easter Sunday.
But why was the young rabbi… Jesus, of course… killed? Many Christians believe that Jesus was killed because God demanded a human sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world, for the sins of all the people of the world. They say that God couldn't even look on sinful people without the human sacrifice of Jesus. It took Jesus’ sacrifice to make up for all the mistakes, the errors, the sins that people have committed over all of human existence. Past, present, and future. It’s called substitutionary atonement. Jesus was substituted for all of humankind to atone for the sins of all of humankind.
Other Christians don't believe that’s why Jesus was killed. They wonder why God would be surprised that human beings aren't perfect, since that's how God made human beings, to be imperfect. If God had wanted human beings to be perfect, then God would've made them angels and not humans. (And even some angels have fallen, according to legend.) Also these other Christians believe that substitutionary atonement sounds like God is too much like the ancient deities, who demanded that a virgin be thrown into a volcano to appease the gods. These other Christians don't believe in that kind of God or those kinds of gods. What makes more sense to them is that Jesus did all these things that pleased the people, but ticked off the powers that be: the religious extremists, the anti-government extremists, and the capitalist extremists. And they had no choice but to want him dead. He was messing up their way of life and they just couldn't stand it. Come to think of it, even today Jesus messes up peoples’ way of life, and some of them just can't stand it.
One thing that both groups of Christians can agree on is this: Jesus’s sacrifice, giving up his body to be crucified, was a selfless, not a selfish, act. What do you think about all this as Easter approaches?
I wish I could say: Don't worry your pretty little head about all these little details. Just accept what the Church has taught for hundreds of years, and that you probably learned back in Sunday school, like substitutionary atonement, and you're good to go. I wish I could say that. But it seems to me that a faith worth following is a faith that makes sense. I realize we sometimes take a leap of faith with things we can’t know about. Or at least we can’t know about yet. And that's fine. But we also ask questions about things that maybe we can know about sometime in the future. Like: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What do we mean by in the beginning? And what's out there in the heavens? And what about the earth, what more can we learn about the earth?
God gave us a brain to think with, and not just something to cover with a hat or a bonnet. And it dishonors God not to use our brain to think about deep theological questions. Now we all might come up with different answers. And that's okay. As the Bible says: Come let us reason together. It doesn't say: Come let us answer all the questions of the universe. When we reason together, it's better than accepting what we don't want to think about, because it's too hard. And if we can't think about these types of questions during holy week, as baby Jesus might say: Holy cow, when can we think about them?
(My Sermon was based on this Text.)
Rev. Bill Freeman
March 28, 2021
www.BillFreeman.org
This would be his last week of life. It would start off so well. But end up so tragically. And he was so relatively young. Only 33 years old. 33? Ray Kroc didn’t come up with the idea of franchising McDonald’s until he was 50. 33? Charles Darwin didn’t publish his book about Evolution until he was 50. 33? Julia Child, the famous chef who specialized in French food, didn’t even eat French food until she was 36.
His life began humbly enough. He was born in a barn. Oh sure. People try to put the best spin on it and call it a manger. But let’s face it. It was a barn. Barn yard animals were probably there. A cow. A sheep. A donkey maybe.
What must he have thought when he took a look around on the day he was born? Holy cow! Is that a cow? Is that a sheep? Is that a donkey? Is this a barn?! Was I born in a barn?! How disgusting. And how embarrassing,
Was he teased about it as a child? If he left someone’s front door open, would they call after him? Hey, Buddy, shut the front door! What, were you born in a barn?! And he would have to say, perhaps sheepishly: Why yes, I was born in a barn. And then people probably laughed at him and said: “Yeah we know, ha, ha, ha. You were born in a barn. Ha!”
And he was born Jewish. How’d that work out? Was he picked on by non-Jews, just for being Jewish? When he went shopping, was he followed around by store security, just for being Jewish? Did the authorities stop him in the street sometimes, just for being Jewish?
Did his parents, his Mother Mary and his Father Joseph, sit him down one day to have, “The Talk”? If so, we can only imagine what they said.
“Son we have to talk with you.”
“About what?”
“Son, you’re Jewish.”
“Yeah, I know. I love being Jewish.”
“We know you do, Buddy. And that’s great. But not everyone likes us Jews. In fact, some people hate the Jews. We represent ‘the other’ to people. We’re different from them. We maybe look different from them. We worship different from them. And they hate us for it.”
“Mom and Dad, is that why kids pick on me at school, just for being Jewish? Is that why, when I go shopping, store security follows me around, just for being Jewish? And is that why the authorities stop me on the street sometimes, just for being Jewish?”
“Yes, yes, and yes. So you have to be careful Son. If you get stopped by the authorities, do whatever they tell you to do. If they say, ‘Show us your hands!’ Then show them your hands. If they say, ‘Kneel on the ground,’ then kneel on the ground. Don't ask them why they stopped you. That sometimes makes them mad and they might beat you up because of it. If you don’t do what they say, they could kill you. And then they’d probably drop a knife next to your body and say they had no other choice but to kill you, because you pulled a knife on them. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Thankfully he survived childhood. In fact, one incident during his childhood would indicate just what he might do when he moved into adulthood.
One day, when he was about 12, he wandered into the Jerusalem Temple and spoke with some rabbis. He asked them some questions and they asked him some questions. Since there’s no record of what they discussed, we can only guess.
“Tell us this, young fellow. Do you study the Scriptures?”
“Why yes I do, happily.”
“And what do you see there?”
“I see much poetry and wisdom.”
“What poetry do you see?”
“I don’t think you can get much more poetic than the opening words of the Scriptures. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.’”
“Very good, young fellow. What about wisdom, where do you see wisdom in the Scriptures?”
“That’s easy. In the wisdom of Solomon. He’s approached by two women who claim to both be the mother of the baby they brought. They want King Solomon to decide who is the real mother. Solomon says he can’t decide. So he says he’ll have the baby cut in half and he’ll give each woman half a baby. The one woman said that was fine with her. But the other woman said: No, don’t do that, give her the baby, just don’t harm the baby. Then Solomon declared that she was the baby’s mother, because she didn’t want any harm to come to the baby.”
“You have answered well, young fellow. We think when you grow up, you should become a rabbi.”
Well, that’s just what the young fellow did. He became a rabbi, an itinerant rabbi, or teacher, traveling from town to town, dispensing wisdom, and helping people. You would think dispensing wisdom and helping people wouldn’t get him in trouble. But it did. Especially with the religious extremists of his day, who cared more about the letter of the law than about the spirit of the law. They undoubtedly kept asking: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! Here are some examples.
The Scriptures say you’re not supposed to do anything on the Sabbath. But the young rabbi taught that it’s okay to help people on the Sabbath, and that’s just what he did, he helped people on the Sabbath. Well, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The Scriptures speak of revenge, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” But the young rabbi contradicted the Scriptures when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Again, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The Scriptures say an adulterer shall be put to death. But the young rabbi, when an adulterer was brought to him, refused to put her to death. Yet again, the religious extremists were undoubtedly furious: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
It wasn't just the religious extremists that were undoubtedly furious with the young rabbi. People who hated the government were undoubtedly furious with him as well. When the young rabbi was asked if people should pay their taxes to the king, in other words to the government, the young rabbi said: Yes, pay your taxes. Well, the anti-government extremists were undoubtedly furious with him as well, and probably asked: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
Then there were the business people, or the capitalist extremists, who liked making money anywhere they could, including by exchanging money and selling things in the temple. But then along came the young rabbi, who overturned the moneychangers tables in the temple and got a whip and whipped the capitalist extremists out of the temple. He said of them that they had turned God’s House of Prayer into a den of thieves. So the capitalist extremists also were undoubtedly furious with him as well, and probably asked: Who does this young rabbi think he is?!
The religious extremists, the anti-government extremists, and the capitalist extremists undoubtedly wanted to see the young rabbi put to death. And they would soon get their wish to have him killed.
Maybe you can imagine a similar fate befalling the young rabbi if he were alive in America today. What if he told people to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the sick? Would people who don’t like helping others say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood along the border with Mexico and told Americans to welcome the stranger? Would people who don’t want immigrants and refugees coming here say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood in front of the Pentagon and said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God? Would people who support war say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! What if he stood in front of the Treasury Department and told people: Pay your taxes? Would anti-government and anti-tax extremists say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! And what if he went to the New York Stock Exchange, overturned the moneymakers tables and said: Blessed are you who are poor…But woe to you who are rich? Would rich people say: Who does this young rabbi think he is?! Might all of those people he offended also want the young rabbi put to death?
Passover week. The young rabbi was going to triumphantly enter Jerusalem, where he was loved by the people. They undoubtedly liked his message of helping people on the Sabbath, of turning the other cheek, and of not killing an adulterous woman. Understanding that they probably got some good things from the government and probably didn't like their temple debased by business people, they undoubtedly liked the young rabbi telling people to support the government by paying their taxes, and oppose the money grubbing capitalist extremists.
So, during the Passover week the young rabbi, riding on the back of a donkey, entered Jerusalem, humbly but triumphantly. Along the road people took palm branches and threw them in front of the donkey to show respect for the young rabbi. And the people shouted: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Perhaps that was the last straw for all of the extremists. They undoubtedly wanted the government to arrest the young rabbi and put him to death. So, the young rabbi was arrested during Passover. He was brought before the king. The King didn't really see that what the young rabbi did was all that bad. The King undoubtedly thought the religious extremists were just mad at him. And maybe he thought the anti-government extremists and the capitalist extremists were just mad at him too. So the king asked the people: What do you want to happen to the young rabbi? Well the religious extremists and perhaps the anti-government extremists and the capitalist extremists got the people all riled up. And they got them to shout: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! No, wait a minute. They got them to shout: Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!
And that's what happened to him. He was crucified. Nailed to a cross and hung there to die. As he hung on the cross, the young rabbi shouted: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Had God forsaken the young rabbi? Spoiler alert: That answer to that question will come next Sunday, Easter Sunday.
But why was the young rabbi… Jesus, of course… killed? Many Christians believe that Jesus was killed because God demanded a human sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world, for the sins of all the people of the world. They say that God couldn't even look on sinful people without the human sacrifice of Jesus. It took Jesus’ sacrifice to make up for all the mistakes, the errors, the sins that people have committed over all of human existence. Past, present, and future. It’s called substitutionary atonement. Jesus was substituted for all of humankind to atone for the sins of all of humankind.
Other Christians don't believe that’s why Jesus was killed. They wonder why God would be surprised that human beings aren't perfect, since that's how God made human beings, to be imperfect. If God had wanted human beings to be perfect, then God would've made them angels and not humans. (And even some angels have fallen, according to legend.) Also these other Christians believe that substitutionary atonement sounds like God is too much like the ancient deities, who demanded that a virgin be thrown into a volcano to appease the gods. These other Christians don't believe in that kind of God or those kinds of gods. What makes more sense to them is that Jesus did all these things that pleased the people, but ticked off the powers that be: the religious extremists, the anti-government extremists, and the capitalist extremists. And they had no choice but to want him dead. He was messing up their way of life and they just couldn't stand it. Come to think of it, even today Jesus messes up peoples’ way of life, and some of them just can't stand it.
One thing that both groups of Christians can agree on is this: Jesus’s sacrifice, giving up his body to be crucified, was a selfless, not a selfish, act. What do you think about all this as Easter approaches?
I wish I could say: Don't worry your pretty little head about all these little details. Just accept what the Church has taught for hundreds of years, and that you probably learned back in Sunday school, like substitutionary atonement, and you're good to go. I wish I could say that. But it seems to me that a faith worth following is a faith that makes sense. I realize we sometimes take a leap of faith with things we can’t know about. Or at least we can’t know about yet. And that's fine. But we also ask questions about things that maybe we can know about sometime in the future. Like: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What do we mean by in the beginning? And what's out there in the heavens? And what about the earth, what more can we learn about the earth?
God gave us a brain to think with, and not just something to cover with a hat or a bonnet. And it dishonors God not to use our brain to think about deep theological questions. Now we all might come up with different answers. And that's okay. As the Bible says: Come let us reason together. It doesn't say: Come let us answer all the questions of the universe. When we reason together, it's better than accepting what we don't want to think about, because it's too hard. And if we can't think about these types of questions during holy week, as baby Jesus might say: Holy cow, when can we think about them?
(My Sermon was based on this Text.)
You Are A Spiritual Being
Rev. Bill Freeman
October 11, 2020
Bill Freeman Ministries
I was seven years old, playing by myself in our front yard, when all of a sudden I didn't feel alone. I felt the presence of something. Or someone. Over the years I’ve thought: Was that God? Was that Jesus? Was that the Spirit? I think it might've been the spirit, maybe the spirit of God. All I know is, or at least all I think I know is, there's more than what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. That maybe there is some thing that we might call the Spirit.
Spirits may scare some people. They may think of alcoholic spirits, like demon rum, that causes people to drive drunk and crash their car into a telephone pole. They may think of evil spirits, that enter someone’s body and makes them do evil things, the kind of evil spirits that Jesus ordered out of someone, who then left him and entered some pigs, who jumped into a body of water and drowned. They may think of ghosts, not Casper the friendly ghost, but spooky ghosts that haunt a house. Although others might say, like Ghostbusters, “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.” I don’t think we have to be afraid of the spirit.
The reason we meditate for a minute or two during our Sunday Service is to give us a chance to be in touch with our spirit, the spirit, the spirit of God. Now, you can be in touch with your spirit, the spirit, the spirit of God any time, any where. But some times it’s helpful to set aside time, during church, during your personal time, during your bed time, to listen to your deepest self, your highest self, your wisest self. Just listen. And listen some more. And then listen some more. Listen for the spirit.
A woman told me, back when I had a radio talkshow many years ago, that parents have to break the spirit of a two-year-old or the two-year-old will grow up to be a spoiled brat. Maybe because my own daughter was about two years old at the time, but I was appalled by what that woman said. Parents aren't supposed to break the spirit of a two-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a two-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 10-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 16-year-old. And parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 22-year-old.
I don't remember who that woman was that told me that. But I'd like to know how her two-year-old turned out. My two-year-old is now 28-years-old, she just graduated from Harvard Law School, and she just took the bar exam here in California. She’s not a spoiled brat. She's a good spirit.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.”
So, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Genesis, the spirit, the spirit of God, has been with us since the beginning of time. And the spirit of God is over the face of the waters.
Maybe that's why people are drawn to the waters. To the oceans. To the lakes. To the rivers. Because they know that the spirit of God is there. I know, it's also because they can go surfing or swimming or fishing or boating there. And it's usually cooler near the water. But it's also dangerous sometimes. Sharks are in the oceans. (That's why I don't swim in the ocean. I swim in Lake Michigan, but not in the Pacific or the Atlantic. It’s not that I like my body all that much. But I do like my body without a chunk missing from it.) Hurricanes and typhoons and tsunamis attack people near the ocean. And yet people are drawn to the ocean. Could it be because on some level they know that the spirit of God is over the face of the waters?
The spirit of God, though, is not just over the face of the waters. The spirit of God is also over the face of the land. The spirit of God is over your face. The spirit of God is over and around and through everything too. And the spirit of God is in every thing, every place. The spirit of God is in the air that we breathe. And the spirit of God is in the wind in our hair. Another word for breath, in both Hebrew and Greek, is spirit. Another word for wind, in both Hebrew and Greek, is spirit. Isn’t that cool?
I asked a guy in his 90s: What's the secret of living a long life? He said, “Keep breathing.” But of course. We know the truth of that these days, because the coronavirus tries to take peoples breath away. Not like when you see the Grand Canyon and it takes your breath away. The coronavirus wants to take your breath away: Permanently. And so far, it has taken the breath away from more than 200,000 people in America. And apparently it took the breath away, at least temporarily, from the President of the United States.
We also know the truth of that these days, because sometimes white police officers try to take black peoples breath away. As they did in the case of George Floyd. With a cop’s knee on his neck, George Floyd’s dying words were: I can’t breathe. To put it another way: George Floyd was losing his breath, his spirit. And no one should be able to take another person’s breath or spirit away. Even if they are wearing a badge.
When it was evening on the first day of the week, after Jesus was crucified, according to the Gospel of John, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. So the disciples were in hiding, fearing that what happened to Jesus might happen to them. Then Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
So if we missed it in the Hebrew Scriptures, that the spirit of God is on the face of the waters, and is really every place else, then Jesus tells us in the Christian New Testament that the spirit of God is within us, and is really all around us.
We say, “We Nurture People In Body, Mind, And Soul.” We say that because we are all of a piece. Our body, mind, and soul are one. They combine to make up our essence, our being, our life. They combine to make up our spirit. Jesus knew that. That’s why he nurtured his disciples in body, mind, and soul. He nurtured them in body, by sharing with them the bread and the cup at The Lord’s Supper. He nurtured them in mind, by sharing with them his teachings. And he nurtured them in soul, by sharing with them the Holy Spirit.
Churches celebrate Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper because it nurtures people in Body, Mind, and Soul. Communion nurtures people in Body. It gives them food and drink for their Body. Communion nurtures people in Mind. It gets their Mind thinking about the life of Jesus. And Communion nurtures people in Soul. It connects their Soul with Jesus’ Spirit. So you can understand why churches celebrate communion, some every month, some every week. It has the potential to lift their body, mind, and soul to higher purpose, to higher meaning, to higher ground.
Why did Jesus institute Communion? Perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that our Body, Mind, and Soul are one. Perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that Communion is all about community. And perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that Communion, the nurturing of our Body, Mind, and Soul, can lead to community, our common unity. Which can lift our spirit, each of our spirits, to heights we can only imagine. Maybe each time churches celebrate communion, people hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and a French philosopher from the last century, says, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” That's one of my favorite quotes. Because in a nutshell that describes who we are. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Have you ever felt filled with the spirit? When we hear stories of people who do superhuman things, like a father lifting up a car off of his child caught underneath the vehicle, science would probably say that that father was filled with adrenaline, so he could do that superhuman feat. But the religious would probably say that that father was filled with the spirit, so he could do that miraculous feat. Maybe it's a combination of the two.
You can't see the spirit. Just like you can't see love. But that doesn't mean that love is nonexistent. And it also doesn't mean that the spirit is nonexistent. Love makes us do things, hopefully good things. So love is a verb. It's an action word. In the same way, the spirit makes us do things, hopefully good things. So the spirit is a verb. It's an action word.
Maybe love and the spirit are two sides of the same coin. After all, Jesus says God is spirit, and the Bible says God is love. That's why I usually begin my prayers by saying…Let us lift our spirit —Spirit of Love known by many names: God and Goddess, Yahweh and Allah, Dios and Divine, Nature and Life.
I applied at a church once whose moderator was fairly fundamentalist. And that might be an understatement. He had a problem with my prayer, where I refer to God as Goddess. I'm sure if I would've gotten called to that church that that moderator would've also had a problem with me not referring to God as he. But I don't think the spirit of God has a gender. So I refer to God as God. Or maybe sometimes as Goddess. Or maybe sometimes, as many of the other names for God, because there are many names for God. Although perhaps the best name for God is Spirit of Love.
There aren't many gods. There's only one God. That’s what Christians believe. Jews believe that too. So do Muslims. However, it can be confusing. If there's only one God, how can God be every place at once? Maybe that's why it's important to think of God as spirit. Because the spirit can be any place and every place all at once. That's why it's important to remember that another word for spirit is wind. And wind can be every place at once. Just like the spirit of God.
A rabbi prayed to God: God, make me like Abraham, and a voice came from heaven, “I already have one Abraham, I want you to be you.” God wants you to be you. And God wants me to be me. That’s always been hard for me. I always thought God wanted me to be Superman, or Mickey Mantel, or James Garner. No. God wants me to be me. God wants you to be you. God wants us to know that we are spiritual beings. And God want us to know that each person’s spirit is perfect, precious, and priceless. Just as we are. As our selves. Not as anyone else.
Why is it important that you know that you are a spiritual being? Because it means that you know that you have a piece of the divine within you. Because it means that you know that you are, in essence, a sacred being. Because it means that you know that at your core you are holy.
You were not born a sinner, you were born a spiritual being. You were not born a mistake, you were born a spiritual being. And you were not born needing to be fixed, you were born a spiritual being.
As a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of God. As a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of others. And as a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of your self.
As spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of God. As spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of others. And as spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of them selves.
You are not your looks, you are your spirit. You are not your clothes, you are your spirit. You are not your car, you are your spirit. You are not your house, you are your spirit. You are not your job, you are your spirit. And you are not your bank account, you are your spirit. All else is just the trappings of life.
Be the person you were born to be. Live the life you were born to live. And follow the destiny you were born to follow.
Don't be the person that other people want you to be. Because other people may not know what’s in your heart. Other people may not know what’s in your mind. And other people may not know what’s in your soul. So be the spiritual being that you were born to be.
Nobody can stop you from achieving what you were meant to achieve. No body. Nothing can stop you from achieving what you were meant to achieve. No thing. Because you are a spiritual being. Like The Spirit. Like Jesus. Like God. And like the spirit of God that, I think, came to me when I was just 7-years-old.
Rev. Bill Freeman
October 11, 2020
Bill Freeman Ministries
I was seven years old, playing by myself in our front yard, when all of a sudden I didn't feel alone. I felt the presence of something. Or someone. Over the years I’ve thought: Was that God? Was that Jesus? Was that the Spirit? I think it might've been the spirit, maybe the spirit of God. All I know is, or at least all I think I know is, there's more than what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. That maybe there is some thing that we might call the Spirit.
Spirits may scare some people. They may think of alcoholic spirits, like demon rum, that causes people to drive drunk and crash their car into a telephone pole. They may think of evil spirits, that enter someone’s body and makes them do evil things, the kind of evil spirits that Jesus ordered out of someone, who then left him and entered some pigs, who jumped into a body of water and drowned. They may think of ghosts, not Casper the friendly ghost, but spooky ghosts that haunt a house. Although others might say, like Ghostbusters, “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.” I don’t think we have to be afraid of the spirit.
The reason we meditate for a minute or two during our Sunday Service is to give us a chance to be in touch with our spirit, the spirit, the spirit of God. Now, you can be in touch with your spirit, the spirit, the spirit of God any time, any where. But some times it’s helpful to set aside time, during church, during your personal time, during your bed time, to listen to your deepest self, your highest self, your wisest self. Just listen. And listen some more. And then listen some more. Listen for the spirit.
A woman told me, back when I had a radio talkshow many years ago, that parents have to break the spirit of a two-year-old or the two-year-old will grow up to be a spoiled brat. Maybe because my own daughter was about two years old at the time, but I was appalled by what that woman said. Parents aren't supposed to break the spirit of a two-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a two-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 10-year-old. Parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 16-year-old. And parents are supposed to lift up the spirit of a 22-year-old.
I don't remember who that woman was that told me that. But I'd like to know how her two-year-old turned out. My two-year-old is now 28-years-old, she just graduated from Harvard Law School, and she just took the bar exam here in California. She’s not a spoiled brat. She's a good spirit.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.”
So, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Genesis, the spirit, the spirit of God, has been with us since the beginning of time. And the spirit of God is over the face of the waters.
Maybe that's why people are drawn to the waters. To the oceans. To the lakes. To the rivers. Because they know that the spirit of God is there. I know, it's also because they can go surfing or swimming or fishing or boating there. And it's usually cooler near the water. But it's also dangerous sometimes. Sharks are in the oceans. (That's why I don't swim in the ocean. I swim in Lake Michigan, but not in the Pacific or the Atlantic. It’s not that I like my body all that much. But I do like my body without a chunk missing from it.) Hurricanes and typhoons and tsunamis attack people near the ocean. And yet people are drawn to the ocean. Could it be because on some level they know that the spirit of God is over the face of the waters?
The spirit of God, though, is not just over the face of the waters. The spirit of God is also over the face of the land. The spirit of God is over your face. The spirit of God is over and around and through everything too. And the spirit of God is in every thing, every place. The spirit of God is in the air that we breathe. And the spirit of God is in the wind in our hair. Another word for breath, in both Hebrew and Greek, is spirit. Another word for wind, in both Hebrew and Greek, is spirit. Isn’t that cool?
I asked a guy in his 90s: What's the secret of living a long life? He said, “Keep breathing.” But of course. We know the truth of that these days, because the coronavirus tries to take peoples breath away. Not like when you see the Grand Canyon and it takes your breath away. The coronavirus wants to take your breath away: Permanently. And so far, it has taken the breath away from more than 200,000 people in America. And apparently it took the breath away, at least temporarily, from the President of the United States.
We also know the truth of that these days, because sometimes white police officers try to take black peoples breath away. As they did in the case of George Floyd. With a cop’s knee on his neck, George Floyd’s dying words were: I can’t breathe. To put it another way: George Floyd was losing his breath, his spirit. And no one should be able to take another person’s breath or spirit away. Even if they are wearing a badge.
When it was evening on the first day of the week, after Jesus was crucified, according to the Gospel of John, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. So the disciples were in hiding, fearing that what happened to Jesus might happen to them. Then Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
So if we missed it in the Hebrew Scriptures, that the spirit of God is on the face of the waters, and is really every place else, then Jesus tells us in the Christian New Testament that the spirit of God is within us, and is really all around us.
We say, “We Nurture People In Body, Mind, And Soul.” We say that because we are all of a piece. Our body, mind, and soul are one. They combine to make up our essence, our being, our life. They combine to make up our spirit. Jesus knew that. That’s why he nurtured his disciples in body, mind, and soul. He nurtured them in body, by sharing with them the bread and the cup at The Lord’s Supper. He nurtured them in mind, by sharing with them his teachings. And he nurtured them in soul, by sharing with them the Holy Spirit.
Churches celebrate Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper because it nurtures people in Body, Mind, and Soul. Communion nurtures people in Body. It gives them food and drink for their Body. Communion nurtures people in Mind. It gets their Mind thinking about the life of Jesus. And Communion nurtures people in Soul. It connects their Soul with Jesus’ Spirit. So you can understand why churches celebrate communion, some every month, some every week. It has the potential to lift their body, mind, and soul to higher purpose, to higher meaning, to higher ground.
Why did Jesus institute Communion? Perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that our Body, Mind, and Soul are one. Perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that Communion is all about community. And perhaps because Jesus wanted people to know that Communion, the nurturing of our Body, Mind, and Soul, can lead to community, our common unity. Which can lift our spirit, each of our spirits, to heights we can only imagine. Maybe each time churches celebrate communion, people hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and a French philosopher from the last century, says, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” That's one of my favorite quotes. Because in a nutshell that describes who we are. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Have you ever felt filled with the spirit? When we hear stories of people who do superhuman things, like a father lifting up a car off of his child caught underneath the vehicle, science would probably say that that father was filled with adrenaline, so he could do that superhuman feat. But the religious would probably say that that father was filled with the spirit, so he could do that miraculous feat. Maybe it's a combination of the two.
You can't see the spirit. Just like you can't see love. But that doesn't mean that love is nonexistent. And it also doesn't mean that the spirit is nonexistent. Love makes us do things, hopefully good things. So love is a verb. It's an action word. In the same way, the spirit makes us do things, hopefully good things. So the spirit is a verb. It's an action word.
Maybe love and the spirit are two sides of the same coin. After all, Jesus says God is spirit, and the Bible says God is love. That's why I usually begin my prayers by saying…Let us lift our spirit —Spirit of Love known by many names: God and Goddess, Yahweh and Allah, Dios and Divine, Nature and Life.
I applied at a church once whose moderator was fairly fundamentalist. And that might be an understatement. He had a problem with my prayer, where I refer to God as Goddess. I'm sure if I would've gotten called to that church that that moderator would've also had a problem with me not referring to God as he. But I don't think the spirit of God has a gender. So I refer to God as God. Or maybe sometimes as Goddess. Or maybe sometimes, as many of the other names for God, because there are many names for God. Although perhaps the best name for God is Spirit of Love.
There aren't many gods. There's only one God. That’s what Christians believe. Jews believe that too. So do Muslims. However, it can be confusing. If there's only one God, how can God be every place at once? Maybe that's why it's important to think of God as spirit. Because the spirit can be any place and every place all at once. That's why it's important to remember that another word for spirit is wind. And wind can be every place at once. Just like the spirit of God.
A rabbi prayed to God: God, make me like Abraham, and a voice came from heaven, “I already have one Abraham, I want you to be you.” God wants you to be you. And God wants me to be me. That’s always been hard for me. I always thought God wanted me to be Superman, or Mickey Mantel, or James Garner. No. God wants me to be me. God wants you to be you. God wants us to know that we are spiritual beings. And God want us to know that each person’s spirit is perfect, precious, and priceless. Just as we are. As our selves. Not as anyone else.
Why is it important that you know that you are a spiritual being? Because it means that you know that you have a piece of the divine within you. Because it means that you know that you are, in essence, a sacred being. Because it means that you know that at your core you are holy.
You were not born a sinner, you were born a spiritual being. You were not born a mistake, you were born a spiritual being. And you were not born needing to be fixed, you were born a spiritual being.
As a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of God. As a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of others. And as a spiritual being you are worthy of the love of your self.
As spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of God. As spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of others. And as spiritual beings other people are worthy of the love of them selves.
You are not your looks, you are your spirit. You are not your clothes, you are your spirit. You are not your car, you are your spirit. You are not your house, you are your spirit. You are not your job, you are your spirit. And you are not your bank account, you are your spirit. All else is just the trappings of life.
Be the person you were born to be. Live the life you were born to live. And follow the destiny you were born to follow.
Don't be the person that other people want you to be. Because other people may not know what’s in your heart. Other people may not know what’s in your mind. And other people may not know what’s in your soul. So be the spiritual being that you were born to be.
Nobody can stop you from achieving what you were meant to achieve. No body. Nothing can stop you from achieving what you were meant to achieve. No thing. Because you are a spiritual being. Like The Spirit. Like Jesus. Like God. And like the spirit of God that, I think, came to me when I was just 7-years-old.
